Nitro (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Nitro is an top-down perspective arcade racer for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

 and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...

. It was developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...

 and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....

 in 1990 by Psygnosis.

Gameplay

This game contains no clear background or storyline, just white-knuckle video game racing. After choosing whether to play with one, two or three (via keyboard) players, the player(s) must select a car and buy accessories at the "pit stop
Pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling, new tires, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, or any combination of the above...

" before proceeding to the race. Three vehicles are available; namely the racing car, sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

, and turbo buggy
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

. Accessories include nitro
Nitrous
Nitrous oxide is a chemical compound used as an oxidizing agent to increase an internal combustion engine's power output by allowing more fuel to be burned than would normally be the case.-Nitrous and NOS:...

s, high speed, acceleration, traction, fix damage, a change of car, as well as fuel which is imperative to the racing campaign.

The game consists of 32 levels, but the game ends when the fuel is depleted. To prevent this, the player must finish in a high place on most races, which rewards the player with up to 600 gasoline units. In addition, power-ups float around in the levels as well as being placed on the track, but these may be picked up by any of the four cars.

There are four different environments. Starting on city roads, the player advance through forest and desert tracks before playing the last levels in a wasteland terrain. (Evidently, the Nitro story is that the apocalypse occurs, and the races go on. "The end of the world is nigh" is graffitied on the track.) Every four races there are night levels, which means that the screen is pitch-black save for the small area illuminated by headlights. Double headlights are available as a floating power-up.

Obstacles during races are commonplace. Examples are cones and holes in the road, which mainly slow down the player, and (blue) oil spillage which causes the car to spin. The Nitro manual makes reference to pedestrians, and says that in some races extra points are given for hitting pedestrians--however During a replay only 1 of the 32 levels has a message prior to entering the race, mentioning : money awarded for hitting pedestrians.

Nitro was also available as part of the Psygnosis monster pack, volume I, along with the original Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast is a side-scrolling platform computer game produced by Reflections Interactive and published by Psygnosis in 1989. The original version was released for the Commodore Amiga, but the game has been ported to many other systems...

and Infestation. The "monsters" in the game may refer to the players--namely, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

 (P1--white), Rambo
Rambo
Rambo is an action film series based on the David Morrell novel First Blood and starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former Green Beret who is skilled in many aspects of survival, weaponry, hand to hand combat and guerrilla warfare...

 (P2--yellow), and James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 (P3--red).

Trivia

As with a lot of early, indie-developed games, Nitro borrows heavily from another game. The game in question is Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

's 1988 arcade racer; Hot Rod. Nitro could even be considered a video game clone of Hot Rod as it uses the same gameplay mechanic. The only things that differ between the two games are presentation and track layouts.

External links

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